Soularians
Soularians Home world: Soularia (sol-R-ee-uh) The planet of Soularia is located in the unknown space and is dominated by two large continents separated by two oceans, Ardinos and Burkindar. In what is considered the western hemisphere of the planet is the continent of Vairelorin (v-air-eh-lor-in). Around the equator, Vairelorin is a seemingly unending desert that stretches from ocean to ocean with several vast oasis that spot the landscape and are havens to all manner of indigoes life. As the farther you move from the equatorial desert, land returns to a lush forest which runs up to the polar ice. Cut into the forest are the major cities of the Vaires. The forests had been cut away in order to form the massive metropolis of the Vaires, but many of the massive trees were left standing and the majority of the structures are still constructed of the plentiful wood. This gives the cities the feel that they are still part of the massive forest. Overall the climate is stable and mild, making life on this continent fairly easy. The other continent located in the eastern hemisphere is known as Forcinar (for-kin-ar). This is a barren wasteland with only small pockets which still support life. These small pockets of forest and water are treasured by the Forcinax people and often fought over in the badlands. The cities which are located around these pockets of natural resources are constructed out of stone and tend to be in a constant state of disrepair. The badlands are continually being scorched and toxified so that life may never get a foothold. The constant wars and destruction in the badlands cause environmental problems for the continent. Its weather is normally extremely severe with high winds at a minimum of at least 30 miles per hour, powerful lightning storms and even sand storms that can block out the sun for days. Appearance Both subspecies of Soularians; Vaires and Forcinax, are humanoids and stand on average about six feet tall and can reach seven feet without being considered overall tall. While the proportions of their legs and body length are similar to humans; their arms are slightly longer, extending below their knees. Furthermore the overall size of the Soularians is bulkier. Their arms can easily measure in circumference twelve inches to eighteen inches and the circumference of the legs ranges from fifteen to twenty-one inches. The races’ most distinctive aspect is their long horns which extend from the side of the skull and curl back extending down their backs. Their horns can range from three to five feet long and a well-maintained set backs up the there belief that they are a status symbol. The species also have claws on their feet and hands which are two to four inches long and razor sharp. The species stands on its toes like a horse for the Forcinax or a wolf rather two flat feet like a human for the Vaires. The skin and hair pigmentation is the best way to distinguish the two subspecies. The Forcinax skin is dark red; often blood red. They also tend to have bright orange to ember red hair which grows out of the forearms, back of the legs, groin, face and heads. The Vaires are a sky blue color with a lighter blue hair growing out of the forearms, back of the legs, groin, face and head. The Vaires also have a bioluminous spot located were their heart is. It is suspected that the difference in color dates back to early years of the species when the skin matched the color of the fruit which grew in the forest of each continent. Biology Soularians have many of the same organs as humans, but they tend to be larger, giving them better overall performance. This has lead their ribcage to be larger than that of an ordinary human. There also have considerably more muscle mass which leads to greater strength and durability. The legs and feet are much like other animals in that they walk on the tips of their toes giving them the appearance of limbs which are angled strangely compared to most humanoids. This angled feet allows the tendons in their legs to be much larger and have given them a nice spring which allows them to run at a sustained speed of thirty miles per hour along with a vertical leap of nearly fifty feet straight up. The bones of the race while larger are allowed to flex because of a high-density bone structure much like highly braided rope which tightens and flexes much like a normal muscle when stress levels rise making them nearly seven times more difficult to break in comparison to humans. Their skin is also different from ordinary humans, which is much more like cured leather and tends to be about a quarter of an inch thick. This gives them ability to withstand being slashed by their own claws when interacting with one another. The Forcinax in more recent times have begun to genetically modify the young, giving them an increased regeneration rate. This allows them to heal from puncture or slash wounds; however more significant damage is still fatal. The Vaires however have focused on improving the immune systems of their people, giving them a much higher resistance to disease and even poisons. Culture The culture of the Forcinax and the Vaires are nearly opposite in nature. Because the Vaires lived on the resource rich continent of Vairelorin and a fairly peaceful existence, the Vaires have developed a fairly advance technological base. This however was often used to suppress the Forcinax people out of fear because the majority of Vaires are in fact isolationist and despise the idea of anyone other than Vaires on Vairelorin. The Vaires are not an aggressive group as a whole and often only take defensive actions. The Vaires govern themselves in a democracy which gives equal representation to each city on the Vairelorin continent. Their military is voluntary which can be used to help elevate once importance in the Vaires society or just to make a living. The Vaires see little combat and often only used to keep the Forcinax from leaving their shores. Meanwhile the Forcinax have developed an aggressive and brutal society based on the same clans that they had four over forty thousand years. The Forcinax is a class base society which infuses shear strength and fighting skill. This is best shown with the rite of passage into adulthood known as “Challenge of Rage.” Every 15 year old Forcinax is forced to fight a soldier of the Forcinax clan. If the child succeeds, they take the soldier’s place. If they fail the child is marked as shamed and forced into what is essentially slavery. This insures that only the strongest fight in the clans. Also any soldier of a clan can instate the “Right of Advancement” which they may challenge any member of the clan, including the chiefs, to a fight to the death in order to obtain their position. Battles are especially important to the Forcinax, because should one clan destroy the soldiers of another they can then move in and claim that clans Shames and resources. However most clans remain too small to obtain more than a few sites at once, then another clan rise to power leading to a never ending war. History The Soularians have been isolated from the rest of the galaxy for the majority of their existence. This was because the planet was located fairly far from the galactic disk on the outer limits of the galaxy. Also the fact that the Soularians did not develop hyperspace travel until just recently has also contributed to this isolation. The Soularian people evolved over hundreds of thousands of years from a species of canines which hunted in packs in the vast forest that cover their world. They adapted their skin color to blind in with the abundant fruit of the forest and attract animal. The social nature of these packs soon led to an increase in brain size and farther development into an intelligent species. By 42,000 BBY the Soularian people have evolved into the species that are known today, living in small towns which were fairly isolated from each other. During this time the species was experimenting with gliders and other flying machines along with developing the workings for an advance civilization. However within two thousand years a number of volcanic eruptions on the continent of Forcinar, lead to massive forest fires and the destruction of a majority of the Forcinax living space. The Forcinar continent broke out into civil war, fighting over the small pockets of natural resources which remained in their land. While the Forcinax continued to fight amongst themselves on the Forcinar continent, the Vaires lived in relative peace on Vairelorin. The Vaires developed larger cities, road system and complex trade system which all led to continuing peace. However when the Vaires eventually built ships and crossed the ocean to find more prosperous trade, they only found the barbarian Forcinax. Returning in fear of being attack by the more aggressive Forcinax; the Vaires quickly took steps to isolate to themselves from their former brothers. The Vaires assembled a powerful navel force and placed it off there coast of Forcinar. Whenever a Forcinax ship was sent beyond the horizon, it was sunk. This led the Forcinax to believe that there were powerful sea monsters that were located just off the coast of their shores waiting to destroy their ships. The Forcinax gave up exploring the waters in order not to waste valuable resources. The Vaires maintained their isolation from the Forcinax for the next thirty thousand years. Because of their vast natural resources, the Vaires always were superior technologically to their feared counterparts. By 10,000 BBY the Vaires had developed space travel while they still had yet to develop hyper drive which the species desperate needed to solve their population problem. While all Soularians had long natural lives, the Forcinax civil war had kept their population in check. The Vaires however did not have such a problem and as such their population was growing larger by the year. They government put restriction on the number of births, but it was poorly enforced and only did very little. When the overpopulation of the Vaires species was nearing its limit, a small exploration craft crashed landed in the badlands of Forcinax. The Vaires tried to move into to take the ship for themselves, but the fearsome fighting prowess of the Forcinax forced them always. The Forcinax leadership seen that the Vaires desired the ship and an opportunity. The Forcinax clan that controlled the ship, not able to comprehend the science of the ship ransomed it to the Vaires for technological assistance. It was at this time that the Vaires became separated among their views. One group of Vaires said that they should not give the Forcinax any technology in fear that they may advance to the point to being able to attack their pristine continent while the others said if they had faster than light travel it would not matter. When on Vaires city gave the Forcinax clan the technology they desired for the ship, the other Vaires panicked. The Vaires city started to pick Forcinax clans to give assistance to in order to keep the fighting on the continent of Forcinar among the Forcinax clans. With the infusion of advance technology, the Forcinax found better ways to kill each other, but still could not unify. They remain fighting each other; with the majority of the population not even knowing that a lush forest exist on the other side of the ocean. The Vaires on the other hand started to explore the galaxy, finding it already overpopulated with humans. Seeing the rest of the galaxy was just as bad as Forcinar, the Vaires returned to their isolation nature and built space force to keep other species off their planet. As such Soularia remained unexplored and whenever an exploration ship arrived, it was destroyed. Only in recent years have the younger generation of Soularian desired to go off world. Few families have the resources and have allowed expeditions to assist the current state of the galaxy. Force Sensitivity The Soularian have about the same odds of producing a force sensitive child as humans. Children that are born Force sensitivity in the Forcinax however are taken by the clans Shaman and trained in the Force. The Forcinax Shamans have over the thousands of years perfected the art known as soul transfer. They are able to transfer the spirit of their greatest warriors into knew bodies should they return from a battle crippled or mortally wounded. Forcinax Shamans are also known for their ability to heal wounds and a known to wield great strength in battle. The Vaires on the other hand train their Force sensitive member to be what are known as “The Watchers.” Vaires Watchers use the Force hid in Forcinar and track Forcinax clans behaviors. They also use their abilities to manipulate Forcinax in order to keep them from the Vairelorin. The Watchers try to predict events and try to manipulate them to better suit Vairelorin. These Watchers like their Shaman counterparts are considered the highest position in both Soularian societies.